His mouth crashed down on mine in a desperate, devouring kiss. Flames licked across my skin, while frost danced over his. Raw need urged us to connect—not just in lust but to fuse our spirits together so even death couldn’t break us.
Let’s get the fuck out of here. Grabbing my wrist, Lucien broke the kiss and dragged me over the ashes of burning corpses.
The entire mansion creaked as we cut into the foyer, setting everything ablaze. Flames tore along the architraves, devouring wallpaper, figurines, and light fixtures. Everything melted—all of it burning and dripping and smoking.
Ancient oak panelling bubbled and blistered as we headed toward the front door. The grand staircase became a waterfall of molten carpet, its banisters warping like floppy snakes.
We barely made it outside before the foundations lost all strength and the estate began to collapse.
“Come on,” Lucien growled, jerking me into a run. Leaping over the threshold, we charged down the three front steps and leapt onto the gravel driveway.
Lucien let my wrist go as we turned to face the massive fireball. A huge smoke plume blacked out the morning light. Cracks and pops echoed far too loud.
Anyone could hear this.
More people would know.
Without thinking, I threw my arms wide.
Ice exploded outward in a perfect dome—a glittering, freezing shell that swallowed the manor in seconds. Angry flames licked up the sides of my cage, turning dense with acrid black. Ricocheting back on itself, the fire destroyed stone and steel, tearing through support beams and knocking over pillars as if they were made of tinfoil.
The mansion’s main supports broke with a deafening crack, collapsing in on itself like a self-burying tomb.
For a moment we just stood there, breathing hard, watching our combined destruction.
But then, I screamed as the power we’d wielded recoiled with a boomerang of pain.
Agony punched us, sending us tripping backward—punishing us for using what wasn’t ours to use. Ice turned on me like a hundred frozen daggers. Lucien’s fire retaliated with thousand-degree burns.
We cried out, doubling over as we suffered the worst sort of backlash.
Lucien staggered into me. “Fuck—” His voice cracked as black blood came up.
Something ruptured in me—my heart, my lungs—I couldn’t tell.
I coughed up a mouthful of bitter blood, spitting it out all over the gravel. We clung to each other as the consequences of using unnatural powers reminded us we were still pathetically human.
Human and dying and—
The pain stopped.
The ice retracted into my marrow, vanishing with a snap. Emptiness filled me, matching the hollowness left in Lucien.
Rubbing my heart, I frowned. No cold. No heat. No power.
He huffed and stood straight. “I’m guessing the strength we borrowed from the dreamscape is officially over.”
My legs threatened to give out, but he tightened his arm around me and held me close. Even that small movement made him groan in pain and...urgent need bloomed.
He stiffened, feeling the same violent drive to connect.
My empty bodyachedfor him. My thighs pressed together as heat pooled low in my belly. I wanted his mouth on mine. I needed him inside me. He needed to cure me, heal me, give me back the power I just lost so I didn’t—
I retched, spitting up another mouthful of black blood.
“Shit, we’re running out of time.” His fingers dug into my waist, pulling me into a walk. “We have to go. We have to get to your lab...before it’s too late.”
Dillon.
